Virtual Backyard

So, yesterday I told you a little about my own physical backyard. Today, I’ll take you into my virtual backyard. I suppose you could try to explore this on your own by strolling through my blogroll; however, I’m not sure that would tell you the true story. Many of us have blogrolls and bloglines that go on forever, but what are the five sites or blogs that you consider to be the backbone of your online life or learning. Here’s mine.

National Writing Project website www.nwp.org As as National Writing Project teacher and leader, and the professional development coordinator for my local writing project site, the Western Massachusetts Writing Project www.umass.edu/wmwp I visit both of these site pretty much on a daily basis for communicating with colleagues, finding resources and building new programs aimed at building teacher learning and leadership to improve learning in our nation’s classrooms.

Kevin’s Meandering Mind www.dogtrax@edublogs.org Kevin is a colleague of mind who remains one of my best online mentors. I go to Kevin’s blog to learn about new technologies, the ways technology can be used in the classroom, neat tools, interesting educational reflections and conversations, and inspiration from his writing, poetry and music. And Kevin is who brought me into the blogging world. A huge resource for me.

Author! Author! http://www.annemini.com/ When I’m looking to learn about the writing and publishing world (which I always am) I go to the no nonsense blog of Anne Mini. So, if it is information and guidance about agents, manuscripts, queries, or the synopsis your looking for, here’s my number one resource. She’s helped me write a great query and synopsis–or say the agents! Still waiting for the same response to the writing in my novel!

Planet Esme http://www.planetesme.com/ is the place I go to learn about new books for my reading world.  Since I write for children, I spend a lot of time reading children’s books, especially middle grade novels.  But this great resource also points me in the direction of great resources to share with the hundreds of teachers I work with.  Check out her Book a Day blog http://planetesme.blogspot.com/  And don’t forget about The Fire Escape by author Mitali Perkins, a great resource and exploration of children’s multi-cultural literature.

CISA (Communities Involved in Sustainable Agriculture) is my online resource for buying local, for food festivals in my area, and for linking to my own CSA farm Simple Gifts where my purchased share brings local, organic food right to my table every week during the late spring, all summer long and right into the fall.  Be a hero, buy local.

So, there it is, my online backyard that supports and sustains my online world.

Cheers!

Advocacy: to support or promote

NWP Spring Meeting

Check out what the Massachusetts Writing Project teachers said about their visit to the NWP Spring Meeting.

Recently, I traveled to Washington, D.C. with members of the Massachusetts Writing Project to visit our state representatives and senators. We were there to tell our story about using writing to improve learning in the classroom. We talked about how the National Writing Project supports teachers in their own learning to improve their teaching and therefore, learning for students. It’s always an exciting trip–as writing project teachers gather together to hear the latest data on the most powerful professional development program in the country.

This trip was especially exciting. We always have amazing meetings with Senator Kerry’s and Sen ator Kennedy’s aides. These two young people are passionate about education. However, on this trip we actually ran into McGovern who took some time to hear our stories himself and Senator Kennedy himself. See the photo in the Western Massachusetts Writing Project Newsletter.

What’s in a word?

 Each word has many layers to it.  Not only do many words hold several definitions, but each person has a personal connection to and individual understanding of a definition of a word.  Take for instance the word continuity.

This weekend I helped facilitate the Massachusetts Writing Project Retreat in Worcester.  The MWP is a state-wide “teachers teaching teachers” network of the four local sites of the National Writing Project: Boston Writing Project, Buzzards Bay Writing Project, Central Massachusetts Writing Project and the Western Massachusetts Writing Project.  It’s nothing short of amazing what can happen when great minds come together.  This retreat is about networking, sharing ideas and resources with each other.  It is also about real work: the building and strengthening of MWP as a state-wide non-profit professional development program to improve the education of all children in the Bay State.

We began our time together “reflecting on a word.”  We explored first individually, then in small groups and finally as a large group, our understanding of this thing we call “continuity” in the National Writing Project.  It was difficult to stay focused on defining the word for ourselves; we wanted to talk about the challenges of continuity or begin to imagine the solutions.  It was an important exercise to stay with the word.

In the National Writing Project model, teachers become members of the Writing Project after completing the Invitational Summer Institute, a 4 week intensive exploration into the act of teaching.  Teachers write as a way to reflect on and learn from their teaching and to better understand writing so as to become better teachers of writing.  Teachers conduct exploratory research into an area of teaching that will best inform their own teaching.  And teachers develop a workshop on their best teaching practice that they share with their colleagues.  Continuity is the way that teachers continue as members of the writing project. 

However, in our conversation at the retreat we discovered that many teachers feel a part of the Writing Project even before they complete the Invitational Summer Institute.  Perhaps they have attended writing groups or writing retreats sponsored by the Writing Project.  Perhaps they have been involved in school-based professional development or study groups.  This brings up the question: what happens if we begin to think about continuity beginning after a person’s first encounter with the Writing Project?  It changes the way we approach the way we work with teachers.

            Here are some of the ideas that came up at the retreat.  Continuity is communication, community, and support. It builds leadership, sustains the structure and workings of a site, generates vision, and shares and grows knowledge.  It has a nature of reciprocity, nourishment, and acknowledgement.  To use a term from the National Writing Project, we are a “professional home” for teachers.  It is a place that teachers come to learn, to share, to grow, to lead, to be known. 

We’ll see how this exploration into a word begins to influence the work we do. 

It’s only a word—hmm.

Susan